Your choice 2007
Here at Greenpeace we like to think we know a good story when we see it, but hard numbers count more than hunches - here's the top ten of what you, our audience liked reading on our website, viewing on our YouTube channel or in our newsletter in 2007:
Back in Sept we asked you to suggest names for humpback whales tagged as part of our Great Whale Trail site. Lots of interesting, moving, earnest and exotic names were on the short list but Richard had a hunch that including one slightly silly one on the short list just might be a good idea (personally I was rooting for 'James Bond: Licensed to Krill') and so Mister Splashy Pants made the short list. The story was BoingBoing-ed and Reddit-ed and the meme did what memes do. Over 150,000 votes later there's now a humpback whale called Mr Splashy Pants swimming around the Southern Ocean.
2: Baring all to highlight climate threat
We all know sex sells, so when our Swiss office revealed plans for famous artist Spencer Tunick to photograph six hundred people shedding their clothes on a glacier in the Swiss Alps we knew it would as some would say - 'have legs'. One of our team even took part - the rest of us just put up the photos. Unsurprisingly some 849,000 of you found the YouTube video more interesting that the written story!
First launched in August 06 our quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics has been attracting a lot of you gadget lovers to see which companies are doing most for the environment. The addition of games console makers in November drove a new peak in links from many gadget/technology blogs. With an average of more than 10,000 visitors every month it's also not gone unnoticed by most of the major companies.
We love our Apples, and our Green My Apple website won a webby last year for its new brand of online activism. Then, in May, we saw something we'd all been wishing for when the words 'A Greener Apple' appeared on the front page of the Apple website. With a message from Steve Jobs saying, "Today, we're changing our policy," Apple pledged to remove the most dangerous chemicals from its production line. As well as delivering more than a few whoo-hoo's here in the office it was also one of our most popular news stories of the year.
2007 was the year climate campaigning broke into the mainstream, and switching to energy saving lightbulbs became a rite of passage into the environmental movement. Over 50,000 Greenpeace supporters from 206 countries joined our 7 Steps energy efficiency campaign, started in April. By the end of the year the industry's expensive "make the switch" PR campaign to draw attention away from incandescent bulbs had failed.
More and more electronics companies are already committing to eliminating hazardous chemicals and recycle more of their products, and now we've extended this challenge to Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, makers of the world's most popular games consoles - launching our 'Clash of the Consoles' website in early December. Many links from many top games blogs made this a late entry in our top content for 2007.
Our most unassuming, most technical, most niche, online campaign in 2007, was possibly our most effective too. Over 100,000 supporters sent emails of support to EU Environment Commissioner Dimas in November and early December. Dimas enraged agro-chemical companies a few weeks earlier when he refused to allow the cultivation of two varieties of genetically modified (GM) maize in Europe. Supporters also left hundreds of comments on the blogs of wavering and opposing Commissioners, a first for Greenpeace campaigns and the European Commission. Pro-industry Commissioners are stalling a vote on the matter, now that it looks like a majority of Commissioners would support Dimas and environmentalists.
8: Save the Dugongs online action
Over 60,000 people watched our YouTube video in September about the amazing creatures who's feeding grounds in Okinawa are threatened by an expanding US military base. 30,000 supporters also wrote directly to the Japanese Government, calling on them to save the Dugongs and their habitat. One person summed up the cause with this comment to the video: "Dugongs are a miracle of Nature, with our effort to create a real peace, we need to Protect, Respect, and learn from this Live Monument of beauty and peace!!"
9: iPhone's hazardous chemicals
Despite the ubiquitous hype there was very little attention to the environmental impact of so much lusting over a shiny phone. Being the first big Apple product since Steve's A Greener Apple Statement we tested one for toxic content. This was one test where it definitely came up short. The video of the testing featured on lots of blogs, with Dave from our Science Unit getting his 15 seconds of YouTube fame.
In December there were vital Climate talks in Bali. However vital, politicians' talking is invariably dull. Action is what we want - many of you contributed interesting, entertaining and funny clips for our collaborative message in a bottle video. A fine way to round off the year - popular content created with our audience.
So that's it - the top new content from 2007. Some of these were surprises and most taught us lessons we'll use this year. What do you want to see in 2008? More of the same or something different? Let us know in the comments.
Post a comment